When I'm making images at sporting events, I will always grab the Canon R3 bodies.  As of now, they are the top-of-the-line in performance and allow me to capture the magic better than any other tool at my disposal.

 

The Canon R6 is always in my bag as a great backup if any R3 goes down, but also as a wonderful walking-around camera.  Their low-light capability makes these a terrific concert camera, to boot.

For studio and portrait work, I reach for the Canon R5 and its spectacular sensor size.

 

I had my Canon R - Canon's first foray into mirrorless bodies - converted into a full-spectrum camera.  With the UV plate removed from the sensor, clip-on filters convert the images into infrared, ultra-violet, or specific wavelengths for making spectacular astronomical images.

 

I will still use my older Canon DSLR bodies (5D mark IV, 5Dsr, 1Dx, 1Dx mark II, 1Dx mark III) as remote camera setups.

I spent the first ten years of my career living with "the holy trinity" of glass - the Canon 16-35 f2.8, the Canon 24-70 f2.8, and Canon 70-200 f2.8. A 70-200 f2.8 can allow any aspiring event photographer to make a lot of wonderful images.

 

These days, my go-to lenses for events are the Canon 28-70 f2 and Canon 100-300 f2.8.  I'll bring a Canon 400 f2.8 or Canon 600 f4 for larger venues along with the two main pieces of glass.  I do find the Canon 200-400 with built in 1.4x extender is a workhorse for outdoor events.

 

Primes are great for studio and portrait work, but also a lot of fun to create unique frames that show off special access - like on the court or sidelines. Wide angle lenses are a staple for showing establishing shots, and wonderful for concerts.

When it comes to memory and storage, I have two rules:

 

3-2-1 Rule of Backing Up Files: you should have three copies of files stored on two different media (disk and cloud), with one copy off-site. For me, this means having my files duplicated at the office, and another duplicate on a cloud service. I use backblaze for my cloud backup service.

 

Storage is cheaper than my time. These days, you can get 20 terabytes of storage for a few hundred dollars. As I begin to fill my raids and nas units, I could take hours of time combing through files to delete, or simply add more storage. The savings on time and peace of mind are worth the expense every now and again.

 

As for the cards in the cameras, I have always used SanDisk memory cards. Since my first digital camera in 2001, I've purchased just about every type of memory card on the market, and have never had a SanDisk fail me. I currently use the CFExpress Type B cards and love the speed and dependability of these cards. Plus, I feel like a little kid, about to play Duck Hunt as I plug the cartridge into my camera.